The Trial Right After The Murder
The murder was taken to court on October 9, 1967, when the jury selection started. The selection was quick. By the end of the day, the prosecution and defense agreed on an all-white jury of seven women and five men who decide the fate of the eighteen defendants. The judge was Judge William H. Cox, though racist, would later decide the jailing time of the defendants. The Prosecutor was John Doar, who happened to be the reason Negro James Meredith got into the University of Mississippi.
The witnesses were Reverend Charles Johnson, a Meridian member of the NAACP. Johnson had worked with the Schwerners in the spring of 1964. Ernest Kirkland, a Longdale resident, member of Mount Zion Church, was another witness. E. R. Poe, the policeman that had first helped arrest the three civil rights workers, was another witness, along with Minnie Lee Herring, the Neshoba County Jail operator. Wallace Miller and Delmar Dennis, two Klansman who had known Price, and Sheriff Rainey, another Klansmen who was in the lynch mob, were witnesses, along with James Jordan “who couldn't keep a secret, and Horace Doyle Barnette. Eventually, the Judge and jury came up with the verdict: Roberts and Bowers were sentenced to ten years in prison, Posey and Price received six-year sentences in prison, Barnette, Snowden, and Arledge, more members of the mob, each received three years. James Jordan, the prosecution witness who had pleaded guilty in his part in the crime, received a four-year sentence. The jury did not reach a decision for Edgar Ray Killen, Jerry McGrew Sharpe, or Ethel “Hop” Barnett.
Never before had a jury convicted white men for civil rights violations of the slaying of a black man in the state of Mississippi! After unsuccessful appeal bids by each of seven convicted Klansmen, the guilty men entered federal custody on March 19, 1970. This had impacted African Americans a lot, even federal agents got involved in the case. There was a great deal of excitement as the men were convicted. Many blacks were happy that after many years white men were arrested for a black killing.
Updates after 2000
After that, until 2000, the case was forgotten. In the year of 2000, the spark of the Mississippi Burning case reunited, and people decided to try to convict Edgar Ray Killen. The problem was that most of the key witnesses of that time had died.
During 2001, Cecil Price died, and it was a setback because he could have been a good witness. In 2005, Killen gets arrested at his house and there is a grand jury session. Later that year, at the age of 80, he was convicted for a three 20-year terms, one for each manslaughter of the civil rights workers. He was released soon after a $600,000 appeal bond was paid.
The Mississippi Burning trial marked a new generation of civil rights for Mississippi. The Meridian Star Newspaper referred to October 20 as “the day the Justice Department broke its losing streak … and wrote a new page in Mississippi history!”
The murder was taken to court on October 9, 1967, when the jury selection started. The selection was quick. By the end of the day, the prosecution and defense agreed on an all-white jury of seven women and five men who decide the fate of the eighteen defendants. The judge was Judge William H. Cox, though racist, would later decide the jailing time of the defendants. The Prosecutor was John Doar, who happened to be the reason Negro James Meredith got into the University of Mississippi.
The witnesses were Reverend Charles Johnson, a Meridian member of the NAACP. Johnson had worked with the Schwerners in the spring of 1964. Ernest Kirkland, a Longdale resident, member of Mount Zion Church, was another witness. E. R. Poe, the policeman that had first helped arrest the three civil rights workers, was another witness, along with Minnie Lee Herring, the Neshoba County Jail operator. Wallace Miller and Delmar Dennis, two Klansman who had known Price, and Sheriff Rainey, another Klansmen who was in the lynch mob, were witnesses, along with James Jordan “who couldn't keep a secret, and Horace Doyle Barnette. Eventually, the Judge and jury came up with the verdict: Roberts and Bowers were sentenced to ten years in prison, Posey and Price received six-year sentences in prison, Barnette, Snowden, and Arledge, more members of the mob, each received three years. James Jordan, the prosecution witness who had pleaded guilty in his part in the crime, received a four-year sentence. The jury did not reach a decision for Edgar Ray Killen, Jerry McGrew Sharpe, or Ethel “Hop” Barnett.
Never before had a jury convicted white men for civil rights violations of the slaying of a black man in the state of Mississippi! After unsuccessful appeal bids by each of seven convicted Klansmen, the guilty men entered federal custody on March 19, 1970. This had impacted African Americans a lot, even federal agents got involved in the case. There was a great deal of excitement as the men were convicted. Many blacks were happy that after many years white men were arrested for a black killing.
Updates after 2000
After that, until 2000, the case was forgotten. In the year of 2000, the spark of the Mississippi Burning case reunited, and people decided to try to convict Edgar Ray Killen. The problem was that most of the key witnesses of that time had died.
During 2001, Cecil Price died, and it was a setback because he could have been a good witness. In 2005, Killen gets arrested at his house and there is a grand jury session. Later that year, at the age of 80, he was convicted for a three 20-year terms, one for each manslaughter of the civil rights workers. He was released soon after a $600,000 appeal bond was paid.
The Mississippi Burning trial marked a new generation of civil rights for Mississippi. The Meridian Star Newspaper referred to October 20 as “the day the Justice Department broke its losing streak … and wrote a new page in Mississippi history!”